Developer appeals Berkeley County property assessment

MARTINSBURG — Bethesda, Maryland-based real estate company BGR Associates LLC is challenging the Berkeley County Assessors Office’s assessment of a commercial building it owns at 300 Foxcroft Avenue, claiming it is more than $1 million higher than the valuation BGR obtained from a commercial bank. Represented by attorney Kin Sayre, from Bolles Rice in Martinsburg, […]

MARTINSBURG — Bethesda, Maryland-based real estate company BGR Associates LLC is challenging the Berkeley County Assessors Office’s assessment of a commercial building it owns at 300 Foxcroft Avenue, claiming it is more than $1 million higher than the valuation BGR obtained from a commercial bank.

Represented by attorney Kin Sayre, from Bolles Rice in Martinsburg, BGR executives appeared before the Berkeley County Board of Assessment Appeals on Thursday to formally challenge the county’s assessment on the basis that it used incomplete information in calculating its real estate assessment of the BGR property.

BGR owns two commercial properties on Foxcroft Avenue.

During the roughly 60-minute appeals session, Sayre questioned Berkeley County commercial assessor John Streett to the method he used to reach the county’s $5.3 million valuation on BGR’s three-story office building at the north end of Foxcroft Avenue.

Sayre attempted to show that the County Assessors Office did not derive its building assessment valuation based upon all the pertinent financial information that was readily available from the company, and consequently making its assessment inaccurate.

Sayre submitted the real estate assessment performed by William T. Bowen, which valued BGR’s building at $4.3 million.

However, Streett later testified that the assessment method that was used by the bank is not recognized by West Virginia.

“It uses a discounted cash flow analysis that relies on financial software and public capitalization rates that do not follow the Legislative rule 110-1C, which governs the method for appraising property for ad valorum taxation in the state of West Virginia,” Streett said. “Therefore, it is the opinion of the Berkeley County Assessors Office that the appraisal presented by BGR LLC should not be recognized as a valid appraisal.”

Mark Goldstein, a partner for BGR, told Berkeley County officials the county’s $5.3 million appraisal, and consequently higher taxes, are pushing it to leave the county.

According to Goldstein, BGR’s building assessed value should be determined by fair market value.

“When there’s no resemblance to fair market value, you are forcing us out,” Goldstein said. “We cannot afford to keep the property at the $5.3 million valuation.”

The Berkeley County Board of Assessment hearing will reconvene at the Berkeley County Council meeting on Nov. 9.